Upper Arm Dragon Tattoo Design

"It's only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin."- Herman Melville -- Moby-Dick

Everybody wants to see the pictures, and yet nobody wants to see them. Ray Bradbury -- The Illustrated Man

"But to become a freak one needs a strong character and unusual determination."George Burchett - Memoirs of a Tattooist, 1956

Traditionally, body art has served to attract the opposite sex, boost self-esteem, ward off or invoke spirits, indicate social position or marital status, identify with a particular age or gender group or mark a rite of passage, such as puberty or marriage. It's this sort of strictly prescribed, highly ritualistic decoration that Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher depict in their book, African Ceremonies. "We've tried to show how body art is relevant to every stage of development, from birth to death," says Angela Fisher.